Friday, January 17, 2014

IN A CLASS WITH BARAKA

[The wake for Amiri Baraka is being held today at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark, or New Ark as Amiri wrote it. I wrote the poem below in 1979, but didn't get around to publishing it till I included it in my 1998 collection, VEXT.]IN A CLASS WITH BARAKAIn the end then to a roomHalf hangs outsideThe hall trashed overheatedPupils smartSquirm in dustAshes add up under chairsMotes streamingCling to blinking lidsAn odor of investment accruesTo this roomEnglish beats against the glassShadowing through the panesUpon the table obstructingPaths of passing planes the capital'sAccumulation of images in the muteWavering grain is something we dissectPracticing between ourselves theRemoval of harmful formsHead at the windowScarring the glassMeaning glazes overThe watching White HouseBeating back AmericanArtist in residence in the newDepartmentOf correctionsPlanes the bladesOf our speechAsks examplesMine is of a pieceWith a room at an endThat hangs outsideIn essentialPopular airMine is of a flight that exclaimsFingers against the glassI check my watchPrepare to give examples